Singer-songwriter Steve Earle released his latest album, a tribute to songwriter Guy Clark, earlier this month. In this profile, Earle talks about the pursuit of his one remaining addiction, fly fishing.
Earle first experienced hip-to-wader-booted angling the same way many Americans did — by viewing Robert Redford’s glorious depiction of the sport in his 1992 film adaptation of Norman Maclean’s novel A River Runs Through It. The sunlight-dappled visuals of one man testing his skill against an implacable force of nature like a stream stirred primordial emotions deep inside the singer, just as he was trying to quit heroin — possession of which had earned him a year-long sentence in the stir, all part of his edgy outlaw appeal, even though he only served 60 days. “So basically, fishing was a recovery thing,” he recollects. “My first sponsor fished with a fly rod, and he started taking me to all these fishing spots in town, and that’s when I first started TRYING to do it. And then I’m in New Mexico, of all places, and I got a female guide who was a really good teacher. And she taught me a lot about it, so I finally started learning how to fish.”
LINK (via: Illinois Entertainer)
